This was likely the week that Iran began enriching uranium at a second facility, this one deep in a mountain bunker surrounded by anti-aircraft guns. It’s the week after Iran threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial energy shipping lane. It’s the day after yet another Iranian scientist was assassinated in Tehran. What’s coming tomorrow?

The United States and Europe’s leading countries condemned the new enrichment at the U.N. Security Council, but Russian and Chinese vetoes will likely forestall another (fifth) round of sanctions. Beyond that, the Obama administration has been putting forth slightly mixed signals. Appearing on a Sunday morning talk show, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta took a hard line, with rhetoric to match: if Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz, “we will defeat that;” if they try to build a bomb, “they’re going to get stopped.” Yet, reflecting the most recent National Intelligence Estimate, he surmised that Iran has not yet started to develop an actual weapon. Meanwhile, a Washington Postarticle earlier this week created some confusion: a senior administration official was quoted as saying sanctions were intended to stoke public resentment and lead to regime change; then, this quote was changed to reflect the intention that the sanctions stoke public resentment merely in order that “the Iranian leaders realize they need to change their ways.”

This was likely the week that Iran began enriching uranium at a second facility, this one deep in a mountain bunker surrounded by anti-aircraft guns. It’s the week after Iran threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial energy shipping lane. It’s the day after yet another Iranian scientist was assassinated in Tehran. What’s coming tomorrow?

The United States and Europe’s leading countries condemned the new enrichment at the U.N. Security Council, but Russian and Chinese vetoes will likely forestall another (fifth) round of sanctions. Beyond that, the Obama administration has been putting forth slightly mixed signals. Appearing on a Sunday morning talk show, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta took a hard line, with rhetoric to match: if Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz, “we will defeat that;” if they try to build a bomb, “they’re going to get stopped.” Yet, reflecting the most recent National Intelligence Estimate, he surmised that Iran has not yet started to develop an actual weapon. Meanwhile, a Washington Postarticle earlier this week created some confusion: a senior administration official was quoted as saying sanctions were intended to stoke public resentment and lead to regime change; then, this quote was changed to reflect the intention that the sanctions stoke public resentment merely in order that “the Iranian leaders realize they need to change their ways.”